My Setup CRAFTS look like this below, it has five growbed with two return and a single feeder tank in the center.

After running this setup for few month I realize that the feeder tank is too small for five growbed operation. Four growbed is okay but with five water can be seriously low if not top up during this hot spell.

To ensure that system not compromise I had to reduce the number of growbed by one, so that water will be sufficient from that single 100 gallon Feeder Tank. In CRAFTS installation useable water volume is dependent on size of Feeder Tank, the bigger this tank the more water will be available and more growbed can be use. The Return Tank since it is constant level does not contribute to useable volume, it only allow more fish to be kept in a setup.

Removing one growbed will reduce the amount of plants that I can grow and also reduce the biofilteration of my setup. I decide to make one growbed into Continuous Flow growbed. Continuous Flow is actually DWC with a media filled growbed. This approach, since water is always same level in this growbed it will not be counted as water that being use from the Feeder Tank but as part of the Feeder Tank itself.

All plants removed from center growbed, I need to replace the standpipe with the one without a leak hole. All pebbles has to be removed too.

Once converted to continuous flood, not all plants can tolerate their roots submerge in water. So some of these plants above may not survive some will.

Old siphon removed, will install siphon without a leak hole. Continuous flood just requires the bell removed to do the overflow.

Strainer holder and stand pipe in, next to put strainer and all the pebbles back in.

Done, these two are the only parts affected. The tank fitting replace with no leak hole (above photo the one with leak hole) and siphon bell not needed. However occasionally it's best to place the bell in to do few flush so that we get good water flushing preventing anaerobic buildup.

Water level shown from top.

Completed growbed above, will start planting next. Water always at top of stand pipe in this growbed and it will not take up water volume from Feeder Tank but act as reservoir.Great now I can try continuous flood growbed.

Made Saddle valve to divert water in case there is excess for growbed. Never document it properly, there are posting of it here but that is all.

This valve is made for one purpose only, that is to divert excess water from a growbed at the lowest cost and as simple as possible.

What you need is cut a piece of the delivery tube and make a slit lengthwise this is the saddle. Then place it over the delivery pipe and drill one or two holes or more through both.

That's it that's all you need to make a saddle valve, you can either rotate or slide it up or down the saddle to regulate water diversion. This valve is meant to be use within the fish tank since it is not water proof.

With this valve you don't need to buy extra hardware like a ball valve to do this job.

If we want to be serious about planting our own vegetables, we must have a steady supply of seedling for planting. Getting seedling from nurseries are expensive in the long run and choices may be limited.Vegetables seedling are not readily sold in most places due to their short lifespan of around 1 month before requiring transplant. Sowing our own is cheapest and can ensure a steady supply as we requires. To get seedling going we require a place to start them out to ensure shelter from heavy rain, extreme heat from direct sunlight and pest.Sowing in small scale as below is okay if we are doing plants like tomatoes, okra etc.. but for leafy vegetables like kailan, sawi, salad etc we need to sow in larger quantities and a good shelter to ensure they do well.

For few plants we can use temporary shelter, but its not as good as having a dedicated place to put all seeding as they grow.

Seedling will not survive if no shelter given to them, its either very hot sun or heavy rain will damage those fragile plants. I decided to build myself a seedling shelter or racking to ensure that I can have a place get seedling a head start.

What I need are few pieces of angled iron and make a 4x3x2 racking for the seedling to grow during the first 30 days of their life.

All cut up from hardware store there are 4 off 48 inches, 7 off 24 inches, 10 off 36 inches and few angled plate and screws. Once assembled this is how it look like, below still few parts missing and will complete the work tomorrow.

Top row is for seedling already germinate and bottom for those yet to germinate.

Each rack can hole two of this sowing tray with drip tray at the bottom or 3 of this 50 cup sowing tray as below.

Its not complete due late in the evening and I'll put PVC mat underneath the tray for support and netting to protect from sun, rain and insect.

It is important in Aquaponics to keep energy usage at it lowest. This is one reason why I switches OFF pump at night. My Resun Penguin Pump is old and it's not as efficient as later design.

Bought in 2009 can't remember how much I paid for it but was a good pump at the time. It's a 110 watt at 4500 Liter/hour rating. You can hear it operating, not that loud but it can be significant at times. This Pump uses permanent magnet rotor making it works like a synchronous motor.

Today I got myself a better pump, its Bettas BT 6000 power rating 75 watt and at 6000 liter/hour. The power rating is about 40% less with increase of output by 30% as compared to the Resun Penguin and it's much smaller in size. Resun is rated at 4.0 meter and this Bettas at 3.5 meter max head. Not that important to me because I only need to transport the most to 1 meter height.

Olde Resun out and in goes the Bettas BT 6000, above Resun done its job well just that it is inefficient. Need to be replaced by a more efficient pump.

In the fish tank silent in its operation and rotor of this pump is not made of permanent magnet, more of an alloy or stainless steel, so it is an induction motor kind of principle hence more power to the rating. I removed the strainer and put a 20 mm PVC fittings with an elbow 20 mm ~ 25 mm forming the inlet facing downward just so that it is able to pump at very low water level.Bypass installed since there are more water that needed for growbeds. This pump can be installed outside fish tank but need a feed from bottom of tank, it will not self prime. This will make this pump able to run on very low water level as long as the inlet is not letting air in.

Above, my colleague gave me a pot of kuchai and so happen I manage to locate a nursery that sell these plants in potting bag on the same day.... ironic isn't it... Above plants are Chinese Chive or Garlic Chive with flat broad leaves and below is the ornamental flowering type, which is not for consumption. Their leaves are thicker and flower either white or reddish pink. Their leaves do not have the garlic smell. Be careful when buying garlic chives for your kitchen garden.

So straight from work, I did what's necessary and get those plants into my Aquaponics growbed. Below row of Kuchai after I remove them from the pot for transplanting to growbed.

Being in the onion family, this plant may not like to get their feet wet. I just wanna try and see... let just see what happen.

Above freshly planted kuchai.BTW that bag beside the electrical box is covering the light sensor causing the Aeration pump to operates, I do this occasionally to run aeration pump during the day if I disturb water pump or major work on growbed.

Selamat Datang

I am an Aquaponics Enthusiast from Malaysia. My involvement with Aquaponics started few years back moving from water gardening, ornamental fish keeping and from necessities to keep plants alive in concrete jungle we live in.

Urban Agrostyle specializing in Media Based Flood & Drain Aquaponics using siphon, producing vegetables and fish for household use in the small space that I have. Ornamental Aquaponics is another area of aquaponics that I am looking at with working prototype that currently in use.

I did made some design improvement to the aquaponics siphon making it reliable and as such that it is an "install and forget" item in the system.

This blog is about my daily activities in Aquaponics, trying new things, improving on old or just routine work that I do. It will also be some blunders that happens occasionally, so that it will be a lesson learned and not repeated.

I don't do Aquaponics on a commercial scale because it requires different level of expertise, settings and support equipment, therefore I will not reply any query on it.

Thank you and do enjoy your visit and hope it’s beneficial to both you and me.